Are AMD and Intel Friends Now?

Since the first x86 compatible processors ever saw the light of day, AMD and Intel have been bitter rivals, competing for every percent of a hugely profitable market. Many times their competition brought joy to computer users as processor pricing went way down and performance steadily climbed. Now it seems that because of Nicholas Negroponte and his OLPC program (One Laptop Per Child) AMD and Intel are finally setting their long standing feud aside and are working together towards a common goal.

AMD have been on the OLPC board for some time now and the first mass produced OLPC laptop has an AMD made processor. Maybe this is what drove Intel to finally recognize OLPC and join up. As Intel joined the OLPC board of directors, their arch-rivals, the AMD company is the first to publicly welcome them. "Intel has apparently had a change of heart, and we welcome them to the table," an AMD spokesperson told vnunet.com. Things change fast, more so in the IT industry as only six weeks ago Intel was competing with OLPC, because of its own "Classmate PC", developed as a response to the AMD powered XO laptop.

It looks like even if Intel joined with AMD and OLPC, the Classmate project will continue, although it is much more expensive than OLPC's own XO. "The thing we have been highlighting is that both parties are working towards the same goal," said the spokesperson from Intel. An AMD spokesperson also stressed that this is not the first time the rival chipmakers have collaborated towards a common goal, citing the Green Grid and Climate Savers initiatives. Intel's role in the projects is not currently known as all sides are refusing information regarding it. On Intel's side, the official line is that details are still being worked out, while AMD says that it has no knowledge of any plans to use Intel hardware on the XO laptop.

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